For Better or Worse
by TMP145
Summary: After the battle of Hogwarts Harry Potter goes to a dark place, he pushes away his friends and shuts himself off from the world. In an attempt to regain control of his life he accepts a job as a Professor at Hogwarts. Little does he know a certain Slytherin has also decided to return to Hogwarts to teach. Can they bury the hatchet or will enemies remain enemies?


Hello, so this is my first non one-shot story I'm really excited to write and I'm excited for you to read it. Please let me know what you think! Just as a pre-warning in later chapters this story will get quite dark and may have some moments which certain readers may find triggering, any scenes which contain triggering material will have a pre-warning and skipping them won't mean you miss out on the story. I do not own Harry Potter, although I wish I did because then I wouldn't have to go to university and get a job. so. yeah...enjoy!

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It had been 5 months since the Battle of Hogwarts and for the wizarding world as a whole it had brought about a great deal of change, and with the new minister of magic Kingsley Shacklebolt in charge, almost all of the change was good. Buildings had been repaired, a better relationship between the ministry and the wizarding community had been forged and death eaters had been captured. Of course, not all the change had been good, some people had to adjust to life without a family member or adjust to the knowledge that a relative had been a death eater, the changes hadn't been good for everyone and one of those people was the cause of all the change, Harry Potter.

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In a cottage, in the depths of Scotland, in the early hours of the morning, you could find the one and only Harry Potter shooting up out of his bed as he wakes from a nightmare. Scrambling from the bed and tripping on a shoe which had been abandoned on the floor the night before he makes his way to the bathroom to splash some water on his face, scrunching his eyes shut as they adjust the bright light of the room he makes his way to the sink. _It was just a dream, breathe, it was just a dream, _he thinks as he splashes freezing cold water on his face. After a few minutes of deep breaths and reassuring himself that he's safe he looks up to take in his reflection in the fingerprint ridden mirror, he sighs as he notices the golden specks laced in the green of eyes and shakes his head as his dream comes rushing back. He's suddenly bombarded with images of Fred and George laughing in the garden before the image changes to George crying over Fred's dead body when the images change to Remus and Tonks holding hands with Teddy in Remus' arms all of them smiling and laughing before changing to Teddy sat crying on the floor surrounded by the dead body's of his parents. The pile of bodies grows and grows, people harry does and doesn't know join the pile Teddy's cries getting louder and louder as the voice of Harry's nightmare comes back, _They died because of you, its all your fault _the snake-like voice of Voldemort rang through Harrys mind, the mirror starts to shake as Harry loses control of his magic. _It should off been you, not them, you. Its all your fault _the cold voice of Voldemort echoed in Harry's mind. Slamming his fist on the sink Harry forces himself to breathe, he counts to ten repeatedly until the images and voice go away and he regains controls off his magic. Clearing his head he decides to get ready for the day as he knows from past experience that he won't be getting any more sleep tonight. In a quick attempt to tame his wild hair he stressfully runs his fingers across his scalp as he walks towards the dresser to get ready for the eventful day to come.

Stretching his arms above him and feeling a little bit better Harry makes his way to the kitchen to get some breakfast when the fireplace roared to life. "Don't do that Hermione!" Harry spoke to the fireplace where the face of his best friend sat.

"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were up, can I come through?" The head in the fire answered back before disappearing, not even waiting for Harry to answer Hermione Granger stepped out of the fireplace and automatically headed towards the kitchen.

"So, are you ready, feeling confident? Have you got everything you need, books, quills, parchment, plans? I was going over your plans again last night and I've made some suggestions so try to look through them before you leave" Hermione completely in a world of her own as she rambled on about everything Harry needed to prepare before he left.

"Hermione" Harry tried to get her attention, "Hermione" He tried again before he stepped in front of the now pacing witch forcing her to stop "I'm going to be fine don't worry, I've got it all sorted."

Giving him questioning look Hermione pulled a stack of parchment from her purse placing them on the counter before continuing on her tirade, "Are you sure? All your stuff is packed? You've got all your clothes? Everything you're going to need?" She said with a disbelieving look.

"Yeah, I have I promise, I've got it all prepared. It's not like I've had much else to do and it was a good distraction." Harry replied with a shrug.

With an apologetic look, Hermione pulled him in for a hug, "Of course you have, I'm sorry I just I want today to go as smooth as possible for you" she said as she stepped back and let him go.

"I know you do, but trust me mione, I've got everything ready I'll be fine" Harry said looking at her to make sure she understood she didn't need to worry.

"it's just. Are you sure you're ready for this Harry, it's a big step and me just I want to make sure you're going to be okay, after everything? I don't want this to be too much for you" She said trailing off towards the end as the worry kicked back in.

Sighing Harry grabbed her hand "Hermione, I promise you I'm going to be okay, I know a lots happened the past few months but I'm good, I rarely have nightmares anymore, I know how to calm my self down if I panic, and I rarely have..those thoughts. anymore, I'm going to be okay, this is going to be good for me, trust me." He said nodding towards the end as if he was almost talking to himself instead of his best friend.

After a sigh of relief Hermione smiled at him as she launched into telling Harry about all the changes she had made to his plans before he realised the time and remembered that it was time for him to leave, after a quick hug and making him promise he's ready once again Hermione left leaving him to do his final checks that he had everything ready.

After checking and triple checking his lists and case, he grabbed his wand and made his way towards the fireplace. Looking at the picture of his parents on the mantle he thought _This is it. Today is my first day. It's going to be a long day but it'll, it'll be good its a new start. A fresh start. This is going to be good, after all, I love Hogwarts and I enjoyed running the D.A. This is going to be good. I'm going to love it. Teaching Defence is going to be brilliant. Plus its a good FU to Umbridge, me teaching. _He laughed to himself as he wiped a speck of dust off the picture before muttering out loud, "This is it mum, dad, today's the day, today I become Professor Potter". With one last deep breath and look around the room he had spent the last 5 months in he nodded and stepped through the fireplace, ready to start the new journey he was about to embark on.

What Harry missed on his way out was the daily profit appearing on his kitchen counter, the headline read _Draco Malfoy to take over as Hogwarts potions professor._ It was going to be a long day indeed.

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End file.
